And when you stop…

Nothing lasts forever. Changes in diet happen to almost everyone — intentionally or not. Your relatives push festival sweets and wedding feasts on you and the food tastes so good, you give up your LCHF diet. Or you start to travel for work and can’t cook for yourself. You reach your goal weight (hooray!) and want to ease up a little bit because diets are hard work. There are a lot of reasons to stop dieting and they are all valid. And they almost always they lead to the same question:

Will you gain all the weight back?

That depends on what you do. Here are five key points to help prevent you from ballooning back to your pre-diet shape.

1. Shift from carb grams to calories or portion size. If you keep eating the same amount of fat and protein and also add carbs back into the mix, you will increase your caloric intake and you will gain weight. Moderation is the key now, so eat smaller portions or count calories until you discover the right balance for yourself.
2. Choose whole grains. Everyone says it: if you are going to eat carbs, make sure they are brown ones, not white ones. Eat millets, brown rice, and other unprocessed grains for their nutrition, fiber, and low GI. Refined carbs like flour, white rice, and potatoes are easily digestible and lead to an insulin spike and more hunger sooner.
3. Welcome vegetables. These are full of vitamins and nutrients that you may have been missing out. Don’t overindulge and eat an entire pumpkin in one sitting, but enjoy a broad spectrum of produce including fruits. This will improve the novelty and variety of your less-strict diet.
4. Keep desserts special. Sugar is one addictive troublemaker. A biscuit with afternoon tea and suddenly the pack is gone. Cake on birthdays turns into dessert every night, and then after lunch, too. Since you’ve gone to all the trouble to break your sugar addiction while on your LCHF diet, set yourself a goal of not falling back into it.
5. Don’t panic. If you do start to regain weight, take measures to control it. Return to a low carb approach, or review your food choices, portion control and calories.

Kilter is HasGeek’s space for reasoned debate on how your body actually works, and how you can find your own path to good health via better nutrition, fitness and habits. Find us on Facebook, Twitter, and Slack.